Illinois Football Uniforms
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OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
“The more merchandise they can sell…..”
Unless Nike decides they aren’t going to make the merchandise seen on the sidelines available for sale. Nike would make a mint making more of the gear the Illini football and men’s basketball staffs wear available, yet I hardly ever see anything more than one half-zip and that orange t-shirt hoodie with the 1LL1NO1S font inside of the blue box available.
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
The other positive about seeing the script on the football helmets is that we can see how it will look on a non-white background color. Like if, for example, there was consideration for the basketball team to expand the script uniforms beyond the current white. Um, not that someone has been advocating for that for a while related to a different sport's uniforms, or something . . .
I do much prefer the idea of having a uniform helmet color (orange) and then using different helmet decal designs. I think that's much more of a brand identity than switching actual helmet colors over the course of the season. If we always wear orange helmets and then have the shoulder stripes, that's a pretty strong brand identity. The logos are the details that drive merchandlse sales.
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I'm not as big of a fan of the script on the helmets as I thought I'd be, and I love it on our hoops uniforms. Perhaps the "Illinois" should be blue with a white outline; the white lettering looks odd to me, which is also weird because the white slant ILLINOIS looks good to me.
Maybe I'm weird, but regardless, I love the variations that are based on history and fit within the brand. They are doing a great, great job making tweaks and adding new elements without creating bizarre abominations.
I will hold my final opinion until I see them on the field.
Maybe I'm weird, but regardless, I love the variations that are based on history and fit within the brand. They are doing a great, great job making tweaks and adding new elements without creating bizarre abominations.
I will hold my final opinion until I see them on the field.
OrangeBlue98
Iowa is not in a great spot right now (LvilleILL1)
- Des Moines, IA
Saturday morning, coffee's going strong, and I'm bored. So apologies for the multiple posts. One day, I'll just remember to put all of these quoted posts in a single post.
For me, I think the blue helmet designs (arched Illini and block I) look better with blue jerseys, while the white designs (script and slant) look better with orange and white jerseys. So if I were making the decisions, I'd probably try to stay consistent with that theme. I'm not sure I'd bring the Butkus-era helmets except maybe on the home game closest to the Memorial Stadium anniversary.I'll withhold final judgment on how much to use the script Illinois until I see how it looks on TV Tuesday. But if it looks good, I'd save that for our big games on the road (wearing white) and wearing orange at home. The slant Illinois could be more of a default road game look. Then, I'd use the block I most of the time at home with navy jerseys and keep the arched Illini for bigger games at home.
So using this season's schedule as a template and assuming the script looks good on a helmet, this is how the 2024 season could have looked. Please note that I prefer to keep the orange jerseys for big home games, preferably under the lights for night games. I'm assuming we always wear an orange helmet, so the pattern is jersey/pants/helmet decal. I also default to orange pants, but want to see blue pants on the road once a season and white pants at home if we wear orange jerseys except for a night game.
(H) Eastern Illinois - Blue/Orange/Block I
(H) Kansas - Orange/Orange/Script
(H) Central Michigan - Blue/Orange/Block I
(A) Nebraska - White/Orange/Slant
(A) Penn State - White/Orange/Script
(H) Purdue - Blue/Orange/Arched Illini
(H) Michigan - Orange/White/Script (this could also be a blue/orange/arched Illini game, but I'd wear orange against Michigan or Penn State at home)
(A) Oregon - White/Blue/Script
(H) Minnesota - Blue/Orange/Block I
(H) Michigan State - Blue/Orange/Arched Illini
(A) Rutgers - White/Orange/Slant
(A) Northwestern - White/Orange/Script
(N - Bowl Game) South Carolina - Orange/White/Script (that would have been my uniform choice for the game)
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
This is a part of the university’s history, as well, though! We were just never smart enough to put it on the helmet until now.
it seems to work pretty well for Oregon & Oklahoma St
I like it , but would like script Illini betterThis is a part of the university’s history, as well, though! We were just never smart enough to put it on the helmet until now.
Fighter of the Nightman
- Chicago, IL
I actually agree. I’m shocked we’ve never reworked this exact font into “Illini.” You already have all the letters, and it’d fit into smaller areas more effectively like a helmet.
Before anyone says we have this, no we do not. The weird, loopy script we’ve seen on random hoodies that says “Illini” is very different and infinitely worse than the actual 1960s/1970s font on the basketball jerseys and this helmet.
I've been thinking the same thing. There has to be a reason we don't use "Illini," which would look much, much better, and my money says it's not a good reason. But it is odd as we use "Illini" elsewhere, even on the hoops throwbacks. I just can't imagine we didn't look at "Illini" and decide "Illinois" looks better.
I might be in the minority here, but I'm pretty meh on them. While I do think they look clean and nice, they remind me too much of yet another orange and blue team in the Florida Gators. Just my 2 cents:
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
IIRC the only place the script "Illinois" has appeared previously was on the late '70s basketball jerseys that inspired the complete
throwbacks worn now. FWIW I'm reflexively in favor of using the script for basketball only and the arched ILLINI on the football helmets.However... I'm completely open to letting script ILLINOIS on the helmets grow on me. And (I can't believe I'm writing this) also the slant ILLINOIS, too. Back in the day I disliked its derivative nature (of the NY Giants logo). It has been 35 years, however, and it reminds me now of a brief, very happy, period under Mackovic when we had an outstanding team that seemed sustainable (which even White's teams of the early '80s didn't) even though it wasn't. I have some wonderful memories of those seasons sitting in Memorial Stadium (and twice in Ohio Stadium) watching several exciting Illini wins and a near-win v. Michigan in '89.
Rotate 'em. Rich variety is the spice of life.
Agree. As someone posted on another thread, this one is too Gator-like.
I'm thinking some people thought a script Illini was too similar to the script Florida Gators lid
mattcoldagelli
- Script Illinois Enthusiast
“Illini” is a pretty short -and, more importantly, vertically oriented - word for script/arch purposes
Off topic, I know, but the Illini hockey club sells jerseys with the script Illinois with raised/embroidered logos and numbers that look fantastic. https://illinois.optimxstore.com/products/m1o58yme
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
Some might think a script “Illini” on an orange helmet would be a derivative of a Florida Gators helmet?
altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
No need for the question mark.
Yes... and a wee bit no (I see why we didn't use blue filler.) Ours is better, natch. But I get you. And now I can't stop thinking about Ron Zook. D'oh!!
I'll gently reiterate that the arched "Illini" helmet is as original as it gets for us, and then I'll see myself out.
I agree 100%
Agree with this! Yes, its different for us and aligns with what the Basketball team has been wearing a lot in recent years. But its not unique, especially when you see all of the other college teams doing some kind of script look.
And also agree with this. I thought that was a good and relatively unique look for us. I liked it very much.
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